Throughout the year, VPM News has reported on impactful stories from across the region and the state. Including coverage of the General Assembly and the fifth anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, VPM News staff collected some of their best — and favorite — reporting from the past year.
Five years after Unite the Right, Charlottesville grapples with its identity
Whittney Evans: I had the opportunity to dig into this story in a way that I don't usually get the space and time to do. Instead of meeting people for interviews on video chats and in a cold room, I spent time with the community, during an event when community members really feel together and happy.
PolitiFact VA: Earle-Sears falsely accuses justice department of going after Virginia parents
PolitiFact VA: Slavery wasn't 'erased' from proposed Virginia history standards
Warren Fiske: One is a May 12 fact check on Winsome Earle-Sears’ False statement that Attorney General Merrick "sicced the police on parents" trying to speak at local school board meetings. The other is Dec. 14 fact check on the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s Mostly False claim that "the Virginia GOP education agenda [would] erase slavery from VA history." Education has become a highly-charged political issue in Virginia, and these two fact checks show how we held people from both parties accountable for their statements.
Reconnect Jackson Ward aims to make residents whole again
Jahd Khalil: I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a Richmonder who hasn't driven on Interstate 95, and it's important to know who bore the cost for shaving some time off of our commutes.
Young Virginians ready to vote with climate change in mind
Patrick Larsen: Young people are the ones who will see the most impacts of climate change. So, after big policies like the Inflation Reduction Act and Virginia Energy Plan filled the news this year, I wanted to hear from young activists about how the climate crisis motivates them to vote, lobby and even sue their home state.
A former VCU student moved out of her dorm after two weeks, but Virginia took her to court for the full semester's rent during the pandemic.
Megan Pauly: After our " Dreams Deferred" series came out in late 2021, I continued to report on students — like Kennedy Burke — whose story illustrates some ongoing, systemic problems in the higher education system. After it ran, a listener reached out to us wanting to help pay off her student debt.
Abortion wasn’t always a partisan issue in Virginia
Megan Pauly: It felt extremely important to dig through the archives to get more historical context about past policy discussions about abortion in Virginia after Roe v. Wade was overturned. It was interesting to discover that the issue wasn't always as heated as it is now. In the process, I was able to interview a woman at the center of the debate in the late 1960s and '70s.
Advocates warn of weed ‘oligopoly’ as Virginia looks to speed up sales
Ben Paviour: There's a lot of money to be made from cannabis. This story examined who stood to gain in Virginia.
‘FARTCAR’: The license plates Virginia DMV won’t let you have
Ben Paviour: This story was a welcome distraction from politics.
